Comrades in Crime 



ground. And for a moment I stood aghast before 

 a miracle of destruction. 



Then the rascals' gluttony betrayed them. 

 For on one spinach leaf I found a prowler, reclin- 

 ing like a Roman at his banquet, too replete to 

 toddle home. He had merely had energy to 

 select his next meal and there conveniently to 

 await the renewal of appetite. At once I recog- 

 nized him. Creep, the accomplice ! Had it been 

 SheUover, there would have been bones to break, 

 a neck to wring. But for sheer disgust, I could 

 not take vengeance on the covering of a gorge. 



So then I was "the fat old gardener" of whose 

 snooze they had taken advantage. Why, I had 

 fairly snored aloud my security while they 

 robbed; and fuming, I set about my revenge. 



The Rogues' Gallery, that was where I should 

 catch them stripped of disguises ; not in a volume 

 of children's verses which they had entered con- 

 cealed in picturesque costumes and under poetical 

 names. Their accomplishments proved them old- 

 timers; and in Garden Pests, the mimicipal 

 ledger, I searched through the criminal records 

 for the hardened face of each culprit and the 



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